BBC

BBC TV report: Could Brazil be the fattest nation in the world by 2030?

BBC World TV

SÃO PAULO — Is Brazil destined to be the fattest country in the world? Some experts say it could be, and as soon as 2030.

Better healthcare means things like child mortality and deaths from many infectious diseases have fallen drastically in the last few decades.

But prosperity has brought with it new diseases: diabetes and heart disease are on the rise.

Ben Tavener reports from São Paulo.

(Produced/edited by Ben Tavener; filmed by Story Productions)

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Brazil’s role in developing an HIV vaccine – BBC TV report

BBC World News

SÃO PAULO — Despite 25 years of research, a vaccine against HIV remains stubbornly out of scientists’ reach. There are, however, around 30 HIV vaccines in clinic trials around the world, and many others at different stages of development, both building on past experience and experimenting with new concepts.

Scientists at the University of São Paulo in Brazil have been working on their HIVBr18 vaccine since 2002. The team claims their vaccine is the only one in development which aims to trigger  CD4+ T-cells — special immune system helper cells vital to coordinating the body’s immune defence system.

Preliminary results from a new technique, tested on animals earlier this year, have proved extremely encouraging.

As part of a BBC Health Check special on HIV, our reporter in São Paulo, Ben Tavener, has been finding out how a vaccine in Brazil is progressing.

Brazil scientists devise sunglasses UV protection checkpoint – BBC TV report

BBC World News – Health Check

SÃO CARLOS – Scientists at the University of São Paulo have devised a new easy-to-use kiosk checkpoint that allows passers-by to check the UV (ultraviolet) protection of their sunglasses.

The team, headed by Professor Liliane Ventura, found that most sunglasses do match the protection advertised, and are now studying whether sunglasses lose their UV protection over time.

Report for BBC World News from USP’s São Carlos campus.

BBC report on Brown Spider Venom

Brown spiders bite more than 7,000 people in Brazil every year, causing serious skin lesions and even death.

Luckily, a life-saving anti-venom is available, but it comes with its own risks – mostly to the animals involved in the production process.

For the BBC’s Health Check programme, I report from three Brazilian cities – Curitiba, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte – on a new, synthetic venom that could lead to a more humane solution.

Read the full BBC News article.